spationaut

English

Etymology

French spationaute. spatio- +‎ -naut

Noun

spationaut (plural spationauts)

1. An astronaut, regardless of nationality.
   • 1997, Aaron Jelinek, “spationauts”, in sci.space.science‎^[1] (Usenet):

     How many spationauts are there?

2. A French spationaut or astronaut.
   • 1993, Glenn Chapman, “Russian/French crew set to leave Mir space station”, in sci.space‎^[2] (Usenet):

     Long term cosmonauts Gennadiy Manakov and Aleksandr Polishchuk, who arrived at Mir on Jan. 24th, will be flying French Spationaut Jean-Pierre Haignere in the older Soyuz TM-16 capsule.

3. A European astronaut, specifically one representing ESA.
   • 2004, “EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY HOPES TO SEND TWO ASTRONAUTS TO THE ISS IN 2005”, in France in Space‎^[3], archived from the original on 6 May 2004:

     The next flight to the ISS is scheduled for April 19th and will be composed of Russian cosmonaut Guennady Padalka, American astronaut Michael Fincke and ESA Dutch spationaut André Kuipers. [ESA, AFP 04/02/2004, Air & Cosmos 04/09/2004]

   • 2005, Pat Flannery, “Son of Little Joe II”, in sci.space.policy‎^[4] (Usenet):

     Considering the weight problems that Hermes ran into, the astronauts probably thought that they were lucky to have seats, much less ejection seats, rather than slings to sit in. Something about an ESA spationaut putting their ass into a sling is unappealing.

Related terms

• astronaut
• cosmonaut
• taikonaut
• vyomanaut

 

Translations

a French astronaut

• Arabic: سبَشُنَات
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 太空人 (taai³ hung¹ jan⁴)

  Hokkien: 太空人 (thài-khong-jîn)

  Mandarin: 太空人 (zh) (tàikōng rén), 宇航員／宇航员 (zh) (yǔháng yuán), 航天員／航天员 (zh) (hángtiān yuán), 宇宙航行員／宇宙航行员 (yǔzhòu hángxíng yuán), 太空飛行員／太空飞行员 (tàikōng fēixíngyuán)

• French: spationaute (fr) m or f
• Navajo: wótááhgóó ałnááʼáłtʼahí
• Romanian: spaționaut m
• Russian: спатиона́вт m (spationávt)